Amazon employees sort packages at a fulfillment center in Phoenix, Arizona. The company has unveiled plans to open a new center in Opa-locka that will employ 1,000 full-time workers. Ross D. FranklinAP

Amazon employees sort packages at a fulfillment center in Phoenix, Arizona. The company has unveiled plans to open a new center in Opa-locka that will employ 1,000 full-time workers. Ross D. FranklinAP

Amazon will build new fulfillment center in Opa-locka

A new 800,000 square-foot Amazon fulfillment center will become the first tenant at the Carrie Meek International Business Park in Opa-locka.

The online giant unveiled plans for the new center on Wednesday. When completed, it will create 1,000 full-time jobs with benefits and become the company’s tenth center in Florida.

“Florida has been a bright spot for Amazon operations with its dedicated and talented workforce who have found great, full-time opportunities with us,” Amazon’s vice president of North America Operations Akash Chauhan said in a statement. “This new fulfillment center will join a sortation center and Prime Now hub in the area and we look forward to deepening our ties in the Miami-Dade community.”

The business park is a county-owned facility being built by the Carrie Meek Foundation and a for-profit developer under a deal with Miami-Dade that includes a $5 million economic-development grant.

Employees at the fulfillment center will work alongside robotics to pick, pack and ship small items such as books and electronics to customers.